Cargo box for barges



Sept. 2 1924.

I E. HENSEN CARGO BOX FOR BARGES Filed June 9. 1923 3 Sheets-Shoot 1FIGJI.

INVEN'I'DR 6M. mm

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WITNESSE E. HENSEN CARGO BOX FOR amass Sept. 2

Filed June 9. 1923 3 Sheets-Shut 5 //V VEN 70R MUM I am 5 mun/55 55 Py5Wy f ai Patented Sept. 2, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EMIL HENSEN, 0F CORAOPOLIS, PENNSYLVANIA.

CARGO BOX FOR BARGES.

Application filed June 9, 1923. Serial No. 644,359.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMIL HnNsnN, residing at Coraopolis, in the countyof Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen of the United States,have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in CargoBoxes for Barges, of which improvements the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to improvements in the structure of barges forcarrying freight by water, and particularly in the structure of thecargo box which constitutes part of such a barge. The object in View isa barge structure meeting Well all conditions of service, and at thesame time presenting relatively small areas to the sweep of wind.

The navigation of the Mississippi River, for instance, is, because ofsha-llowness, accomplished in the use of light-draft stern- Wheeledsteamboats. These stern-wheelers convey freight barges, not by towingthem by a rope astern, but by pushing them ahead. The barges are made upinto groups, lashed together, and lashed to the steamer at the bow, andthe wholemoves as a single block or unit. IVhen the group is as much asthree or four barges long, as often is the case (the barges themselvesbeing -commonly two hundred feet long, more ,or less), the whole groupor tow lashed to the steamer may extend forwardly as much as eighthundred feet or more. All this with the steamer itself constitutes anassembly a thousand feet long or more, propelled by a paddle wheel atthe extreme rear end of the whole.

It is manifest that such a travelling assembly afloat, being exposed tothe sweep of winds, should lie as low on the water as possible. Thecargo boxes of the barges should be low walled. Indeed the blowing of atow from the channel not infrequently results in running aground andloss of barges.

With these preliminary comments I turn to the invention. It isillustrated in the accompanying drawings. Fig. I is a view inperspective, showing a barge embodying my invention in its structure;Fig. II is a view .in medial longitudinal section of the barge,

lacking the cargo box; Fig. III is a fragmentary View in side elevation,drawn to larger scale; Fig. IV is an outline view in cross section, onthe plane indicated by the line IVIV, Fig. III. Figs. V and VI showdiagrammatically, and to still larger scale the hatchway and hatch, inside elevation and in vertical and transverse section. Figs. VII, VIII,and IX illustrate details of interconnection between cargo box roof andbatch. Fig. VII is a View in vertical section, on a plane transverse tothe length of the barge; Fig. VIII is a view in horizontal section, onthe plane indicated by the line VIIIVIII, Fig. VII; and Fig. IX is aView in vertical section on a plane at right angles to that of Fig. VII.

Referring, first, to Fig. II the structure of the barge is indicated,and, comparing Figs. II and IV, the space within, the hold, will, beseen, and its shape, dimensions and disposition understood. The hold isdefined by the floor 1 and Walls 2, and is of course the load carryingchamber.

The box is the superstructure, built above the hold to protect thecargo. I build it of the usual general form, with vertical walls 8 anddouble sloping roof 4.

It. is usual to form hatchwa-ys in the roof of the cargo box, throughwhich by the use of cranes the cargo may be loaded and unloaded. But inriver traflic such as that on the Mississippi, for example, not all.ports are equipped with cranes for the purpose indicated, but, instead,barges are loaded and unloaded through doors in the side walls of thecargo box. Accordingly, it has been necessary, and, but for myinvention, it still is necessary, in building the cargo box to build ithigh enough to afford doors with head room for loading and unloading.That means a cargo box Whose walls rise at least six feet and a halffrom the deck of the barge.

My invention involves the forming of a hatchway through the roof of thecargo box and a door-way through the side wall, as a continuous opening,indicated at 5, 6, Fig. I, and in forming as closure for such opening,hatches 7 and doors 8.

The doors 8 are convenientlykmounted on rollers and slide to and fromposition of closure upon the door openings 6, as clearly indicated inFig. III. The door to the left in that figure is shown in closedposition; the door to the right, in open position.

The hatches 7 are made in pairs and when assembled and closed conform tothe structure of the double sloping roof 4. Referring particularly toFig. III, the first hatch 7 on the left is shown in closed position. Thesecond also is shown in closed position;

but here the door is for purposes of illustration omitted from thedrawing, and the f wall 3 is broken away sufficiently to indi cate (invertical section) that the hatch 1tself is formed of a framework ofchannel bars 9 and a plate of sheet metal, to which the numeral 7 isparticularly applied. And here also it appears that the hatchwayisprovided with a combing, in the form of a channel barv 10. The frameworkof the hatch includes at its'outer margin a channel bar 11, which hasfrom the second hatch of Fig. III, for purposes of illustration,

been removed (but see the other-hatches of the same figure, and compareFigs. IV, V, and VI). Vith this minute explanation it will be understoodthat the hatch closes down with the marginal members of its rests byweight upon it, and when the outer ment and the interlocking of the...face. toward the eaves of the roof.

' well. as when edge of the hatch is raised the hatch swings on itsinner edge so resting upon the roof.

Figures VII, VIII, and IX, as has been said, illustrate in detail theinterengagehatches with the rims of the hatchways. Figure IX is avertical section in th'e'plane of the ridge of the roof. Figure VII is avertical sect-ion on a plane at right angles to that of Figure IX,indicated by the line VII VII, Fig. IX. Figure VIII is a view 1nhorizontal section, on the. plane indicated at VIII-VIII, Fig. VII.

The hatchway 1s rimmed along either edge, by channel bars 10 which standas best shown-in Figure IX. The hatches are edged on either side withcorrespondingly depending channel bars 9. IVhen the hatch is down, thesechannel bars 9 and 10 extend in parallelism, the pair of channel bars 9which are carried by. the hatches outside and the pair of channel bars10 which rim the hatchway inside. The vertical webs of thesechannel-bars 9 and 10 are provided with cooperating obliquely'set angleirons 12 and 13. y

The angle irons 13 which the rims of the hatchways carry face toward theridge. The angle irons 12 which the hatches carry These pairs of angleirons meetface to face, as is best seen in Figs. VII and VIII. Theyserve to guide the hatch to position when being applied, and to preventit from slidingoutward when it has been applied, as

being raised and lowered. The hatches 1 are further provided at theirinner ends with channel barsl l which rise on the outside of and extendalong the inner edges of the hatches. Arched covers 15 are applicable toand rest by gravity uponthe hatches andoverarch and protect the jointwhere the pair of hatches meet, and being applied interlock with thechannel bars 14. I

The hatches are provided with shackles 16, by which they may be engagedand lifted by a crane, and the doors are provided with hand rails 1?, bywhich they may be manually shifted.

Near the outer end of each hatch and on either side are carried hingedlegs 20 and in the roof of the cargo box near the sockets 21 forreceiving the lower ends of caves and near the hatchways are formedthese legs when thehatch is raised and the legs extended.

On the inner walls 2 of the hold, medially beneath the door openings aresecured brackets 18, and between bracket 18 and a frame member 9 of thehatch above, a jack such as the hand-operated jack 19 of the drawings,may be introduced. Fig. VI of the drawings shows in full lines thehatch.

in lowered position and the jack applied for raising, and, in dottedlines, the hatch in elevated position.

The side walls 3 of my cargo'box, as I have designed it, rise three feetand ten inches from the deck .of the barge.

The manner of using the barge to which my invention has been appliedwill readily be understood. If the barge is to be loaded or unloaded bymeans of cranes, the hatchway is opened in the following manner. Firstthe ridge cap 15 is lifted, and removed. As shown, this ridge cap isprovided at its ends with handles by which two men may lift and removeit. It might instead be provided withshackles by which it might beengaged and lifted; mechanically. When the ridge cap has been removed,the hatches 7 are lifted bodily and set aside (ordinarily on theadjacentroof surface), and so the hatchway is opened, from side to side.Additionally, the doors maybe slid to open the doorways 6 also.

In case the barge is to be loaded or unloaded from awharf by carryingthe. load over a gang-plank or upon some other laterally movingconveyor, the door 8 isslid aside,- opening the door-way 6. The jack 19is then put inplace and operated toraise the.

hatch 7 as shown in Fig. V. When the hatch has so been raised the hingedlegs 20 on either side are. swung down and, the hatch belngshghtlylowered again,come to.

And it will be observed that the hatch so swung to the positionindicated on the left, Fig. IV, and on the right, Fig. III, and inperspective, Fig. I, still serves as a roof, protecting workmen andcargo from rain during loading and unloading. It is to be remarked thatwhen a hatch 7 is so swung upward to open a doorway with suflicient headroom, the cap piece 15 while allowing the hatch to swing still performsits function of of hatches meet.

Thus all the benefit and advantage of a high cargo box is gained, andwithout the attendant disadvantage of large wall areas exposed to thesweep of wind.

I claim as my invention:

1. A cargo box for barges including opposite side Walls and doublesloping roof, a

-hatchway in the roof extending from wall to wall, opposite doorways inthe side walls continuous with the hatchway, and a double hatch for saidhatchway the opposite halves of the hatch adapted to swing vertically onthe ridge of the roof as an axis and, when raised, while stilloverhanging the hatchway, affording increased head-room in the doorway.

2. A cargo box for a barge having formed in its roof a hatchway withacombing at its margin, a stop extending from the combing on either sideand having an upwardly and protecting the seam where the pair rearwardlyfacing bearing surface, a hatch adapted to be applied to said roof andto rest thereon by gravity and to cover said hatchway, said hatch formedwith lateral bars adapted when the hatch is in place to extend adjacentsaid combing, stops extending from said bars and having downwardly andforwardly facing bearing surfaces adapted when the hatch is in place toextend opposite the stops extending from said combing.

3. A cargo box for a barge having side walls 3 and double sloping roof 4and having a continuous opening constituting a hatchway through saidroof and door-ways through said side walls, sliding doors 8 in said sidewalls, double hatches 7 for said hatchways, said hatchways beingprovided with lateral combings 10, said hatches being provided with,lateral bars 9, stops 12 and 13 extending from combings 10 and bars 9,bars 14 extending from said hatches, and a ridge cap 15 adapted to restby gravity upon the adjacent edges of said hatches and to overarch thebars 14-.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

EMIL HENSEN.

IVitnesses FRIEDA E. WoLrF, PERCY A. ENGLISH.

